Fails the Bechdel test
1408
2007. Directed by Mikael Håfström, written by Matt Greenberg and Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
9 women characters. 2 of them speak. -
No
2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
Author Mike Enslin specializes in paranormal investigations writing books along the line of the 10 best haunted hotels in America and so on. He receives an anonymous postcard in the mail telling him not to stay in room 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel in New York City. His attempts to make a reservation there are unsuccessful and he is told that it isn't available - ever. His research reveals that there have been a number of very strange deaths in that room dating as far back as the hotel's opening 95 years ago. The hotel is forced to accept him but the manager, Gerald Olin, begs him not to stay there. In his opinion, the room is evil and no one has ever been able to stay in there for more than an hour. Enslin scoffs at the warning and is soon in the room - from which he soon becomes desperate to leave.
- Released
- 22 Jun 2007
- Genres
- Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 6.8 / 10
- Metascore
- 64 / 100
- Awards
- 4 wins & 12 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Mike 263 lines, man
- Lily 50 lines
- Olin 46 lines, man
- Mire 22 lines, man
- Voice Of The Room 12 lines
- Young Mike 12 lines, man
- Hotel Voice 11 lines
- Sam 11 lines, man
- Gracie 9 lines
- Gracte 7 lines
Full cast, 32 people
- John Cusack as Mike Enslin
- Samuel L. Jackson as Gerald Olin
- Mary McCormack as Lilly Enslin
- Jasmine Jessica Anthony as Katie
- Tony Shalhoub as Sam Farrell
- Len Cariou as Mike's Father
- Isiah Whitlock Jr. as Hotel Engineer
- Noah Lee Margetts as Bellboy
- William Armstrong as Clay
- Paul Birchard as Mr. Innkeeper
- Margot Leicester as Mrs. Innkeeper
- Alexandra Silber as Young Woman at Bookstore
- Angel Oquendo as Taxi Cab Driver
- Walter Lewis as Bookstore Cashier
- Eric Meyers as Man #1 at Bookstore
- Holly Hayes as Lady at Bookstore
- Johann Urb as Surfer Dude
- Andrew-Lee Potts as Mailbox Guy
- Kim Thomson as Desk Clerk
- Drew Powell as Assistant Hotel Manager
- Benny Urquidez as Claw Hammer Maniac
- Ray Nicholas as Factory Owner
- Paul Kasey as Kevin O'Malley
- George Cottle as Mailbox Worker
- William Willoughby as Mailbox Worker
- Thomas A. McMahon as Cop #1
- Kevin Dobson as Priest
- Peter Conboy as Man Outside Hotel Fire (uncredited)
- Georgie Lee-Robinson as Bookstore Assistant (uncredited)
- Bernadette Lords as Hotel Guest (uncredited)
- Rob McGillivray as Bellboy (uncredited)
- Kate Walsh as Mike Enslin's Ex-wife (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 27% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 85
Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.
Show the numbers
| Scenes | Women's lines | Men's lines |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 to 6 | 7 | 9 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 3 |
| 9 to 10 | 0 | 4 |
| 11 to 12 | 3 | 8 |
| 13 to 14 | 0 | 2 |
| 15 to 16 | 1 | 4 |
| 17 to 18 | 0 | 9 |
| 19 to 20 | 0 | 13 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 to 24 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 to 26 | 2 | 51 |
| 27 to 28 | 0 | 15 |
| 29 to 30 | 0 | 5 |
| 31 to 32 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 to 34 | 0 | 15 |
| 35 to 36 | 0 | 24 |
| 37 to 38 | 0 | 1 |
| 39 to 40 | 0 | 8 |
| 41 to 42 | 2 | 21 |
| 43 to 44 | 2 | 26 |
| 45 to 46 | 0 | 13 |
| 47 to 48 | 1 | 34 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 24 |
| 51 to 52 | 0 | 12 |
| 53 to 54 | 0 | 0 |
| 55 to 56 | 0 | 9 |
| 57 to 58 | 0 | 1 |
| 59 to 60 | 0 | 2 |
| 61 to 62 | 0 | 4 |
| 63 to 64 | 0 | 3 |
| 65 to 66 | 0 | 12 |
| 67 to 68 | 0 | 2 |
| 69 to 70 | 0 | 0 |
| 71 to 72 | 1 | 33 |
| 73 to 74 | 0 | 8 |
| 75 to 76 | 0 | 0 |
| 77 to 78 | 0 | 0 |
| 79 to 80 | 0 | 3 |
| 81 to 82 | 0 | 2 |
| 83 to 84 | 0 | 1 |
| 85 to 85 | 0 | 0 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 5 are women's.
19 lines from women, 381 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
9 women and 22 men in the cast. 2 women and 7 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 3 of 545.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 187 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 4% of the words (188), men 96% (4,266). Women have 5% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.
Exhibit D: the test the other way
Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
0
Two men
23
Exhibit E: behind the camera
3 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 33% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Mikael Håfström (man)
- Written by
- Larry Karaszewski (man), Matt Greenberg (man), Scott Alexander (man)
- Produced by
- Lorenzo di Bonaventura (man)
- Shot by
- Benoît Delhomme (man)
- Edited by
- Peter Boyle (man)
- Music by
- Gabriel Yared (man)
- Production design by
- Andrew Laws (man)
- Costumes by
- Natalie Ward (woman)
- Cast by
- Avy Kaufman (woman), Elaine Grainger (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
11 women, 7 men, 12 not listed
-
Sound
3 women, 10 men, 12 not listed
-
Other crew
3 women, 11 men, 5 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 6 men, 12 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
5 women, 3 men, 9 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 6 men, 8 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 4 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 24 on average. Men: 51 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Jasmine Jessica Anthony 10, Mary McCormack 38
Men
Noah Lee Margetts 36, John Cusack 40, Isiah Whitlock Jr. 52, Paul Birchard 52, Tony Shalhoub 53, William Armstrong 53, Samuel L. Jackson 58, Len Cariou 67
Exhibit G: the money
It made 5.3 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $25 million
- Box office
- $133 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 85 scenes and 545 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
